Thursday, October 07, 2004
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A weekend in Val d’Orcha.
This weekend was fun. We stayed at a farm near Pienza. When we got there we were looking around and I was dancing around the pool in my gym clothes and I fell in. It was very funny. After that I was so wet that I just took a swim. After my swim I took a shower in our room -- Torretta, the small tower.
The apartment had 3 different rooms: one bathroom, a kitchen/living room, and a bedroom with 2 bedrooms (because there was a loft that had a ladder and a bed in the bedroom). I slept in the loft.
That night we went to Pienza for dinner and looked around in the dark for a restaurant but they were all full. Finally we found one and it was great. I had sausage with farmhouse sauce. Farmhouse sauce is tomato, beans and onions. It was really good.
The next day we made pancakes for breakfast. Yummy! Dad found flour, baking soda and maple syrup. After breakfast we played outside and picked Semolina wheat from the fields. Semolina is the wheat they use to make Pasta. All the fields around our farm are used to grow it. Most of it was already harvested so the fields are mostly just chunks of earth, but Lizy and I found some wheat and we took the grains out to make our own flour. When you open up the grains, you can see the bright white flour.
After our morning of playing, we went to Bagno Vinoni, a place where there are natural hot springs. A long time ago in the Rennisance the Medici’s wanted hot baths like the Romans so they built their spa here. We walked around town for a little bit and then we drove up to a castle and had lunch. After lunch we drove back to the farm and took a quick swim before going off to a cheese farm and vineyard.
The farm was great. They had lots of sheep, goats, and dogs. Some of the sheep had long, twisty horns. At the farm they make special goat and sheep cheese. This area is famous for it pecorino cheese (pecorino is Italian for sheep). We got to see a lot of the cheese and had fun playing with the dogs and seeing the other animals. Lizy and I each had a dog that really liked us. I had two. One puppy that was brown and one that was brown and white. Lizy’s was black with a little brown on his face. There were lots of other animals we saw a kid, 3 chicks, goats with these crazy horns, turkeys, ducks, chickens, squaky birds, pigeons, a dove, geese, and dogs, dogs, dogs.
After the farm we went to the vineyard. The grownups drank the Brunello wine. The wine has to stay in barrels for 5 years. I tried some and I didn’t think it was good. Blech! The people who run the vineyard were harvesting the grapes while we were there. Lizy and I each got a bunch of grapes from a truck full of grapes. We broke them opened and sucked out all the grape juice. Yum – much better than then wine. When Lizy and I were done with grapes, we played in the olive trees. It was fun climbing them. We made up a game in the olive grove. They were the cross roads and the intersections. The intersections were the ones that went down the hill. The cross roads were the ones that went across the hills. The first cross road was called cross road one and the first intersection was called intersection one so that’s how we divided up the trees into different addresses. Each Road had it’s own 3 numbers. The road Lizy and I lived on was 821. Lizy was 8214 and I was 8213.
After our outing we went back to the farm and then out to Pienza for dinner. Pienza is a pretty little town with no cars and little streets with stone houses. A pope had it built all at once to be a perfect Renaissance town.
On Sunday morning we painted trees. I painted a Cyprus tree. And then we left and stopped in Montepucciano on the way back for lunch.
Montepucciano is a small town, though not as small as Pienza, that’s built like a castle on a hill. We just walked around the little streets, looked at the views and climbed up the town hall. Then we drove back to Florence. Eliza was invited to a birthday party so we went to our first Italian birthday party and had fun. There was a puppet show but it was in Italian so that was not so fun. We had fun playing the games.
This weekend was fun. We stayed at a farm near Pienza. When we got there we were looking around and I was dancing around the pool in my gym clothes and I fell in. It was very funny. After that I was so wet that I just took a swim. After my swim I took a shower in our room -- Torretta, the small tower.
The apartment had 3 different rooms: one bathroom, a kitchen/living room, and a bedroom with 2 bedrooms (because there was a loft that had a ladder and a bed in the bedroom). I slept in the loft.
That night we went to Pienza for dinner and looked around in the dark for a restaurant but they were all full. Finally we found one and it was great. I had sausage with farmhouse sauce. Farmhouse sauce is tomato, beans and onions. It was really good.
The next day we made pancakes for breakfast. Yummy! Dad found flour, baking soda and maple syrup. After breakfast we played outside and picked Semolina wheat from the fields. Semolina is the wheat they use to make Pasta. All the fields around our farm are used to grow it. Most of it was already harvested so the fields are mostly just chunks of earth, but Lizy and I found some wheat and we took the grains out to make our own flour. When you open up the grains, you can see the bright white flour.
After our morning of playing, we went to Bagno Vinoni, a place where there are natural hot springs. A long time ago in the Rennisance the Medici’s wanted hot baths like the Romans so they built their spa here. We walked around town for a little bit and then we drove up to a castle and had lunch. After lunch we drove back to the farm and took a quick swim before going off to a cheese farm and vineyard.
The farm was great. They had lots of sheep, goats, and dogs. Some of the sheep had long, twisty horns. At the farm they make special goat and sheep cheese. This area is famous for it pecorino cheese (pecorino is Italian for sheep). We got to see a lot of the cheese and had fun playing with the dogs and seeing the other animals. Lizy and I each had a dog that really liked us. I had two. One puppy that was brown and one that was brown and white. Lizy’s was black with a little brown on his face. There were lots of other animals we saw a kid, 3 chicks, goats with these crazy horns, turkeys, ducks, chickens, squaky birds, pigeons, a dove, geese, and dogs, dogs, dogs.
After the farm we went to the vineyard. The grownups drank the Brunello wine. The wine has to stay in barrels for 5 years. I tried some and I didn’t think it was good. Blech! The people who run the vineyard were harvesting the grapes while we were there. Lizy and I each got a bunch of grapes from a truck full of grapes. We broke them opened and sucked out all the grape juice. Yum – much better than then wine. When Lizy and I were done with grapes, we played in the olive trees. It was fun climbing them. We made up a game in the olive grove. They were the cross roads and the intersections. The intersections were the ones that went down the hill. The cross roads were the ones that went across the hills. The first cross road was called cross road one and the first intersection was called intersection one so that’s how we divided up the trees into different addresses. Each Road had it’s own 3 numbers. The road Lizy and I lived on was 821. Lizy was 8214 and I was 8213.
After our outing we went back to the farm and then out to Pienza for dinner. Pienza is a pretty little town with no cars and little streets with stone houses. A pope had it built all at once to be a perfect Renaissance town.
On Sunday morning we painted trees. I painted a Cyprus tree. And then we left and stopped in Montepucciano on the way back for lunch.
Montepucciano is a small town, though not as small as Pienza, that’s built like a castle on a hill. We just walked around the little streets, looked at the views and climbed up the town hall. Then we drove back to Florence. Eliza was invited to a birthday party so we went to our first Italian birthday party and had fun. There was a puppet show but it was in Italian so that was not so fun. We had fun playing the games.
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Rhea, We really like all the stories and photos of this adventure. Your writting skills are special and give a good sense of all you are doing, Thanks for sharing,
Bill & Carole (In Puerto Rico)
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Bill & Carole (In Puerto Rico)
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: October 8, 2004 at 10:15 PM
: October 8, 2004 at 10:15 PM<< Home
